Mirage answered Erich''s call while dressed in nothing but a partly see through night gown. She expected only to see Erich''s face appear on the holographic projection. In that moment, she desired to see the man drool over her pristine figure.


    Of course, the moment she epted the call, Mirage was surprised to see five men in total dressed in military fatigues staring at her with shock. Erich smirked when he saw the woman''s scantily d appearance and immediately made a joke at her expense.


    "Damn, if I had known you would be this excited to see me, I would have visited you in person!"


    Mirage instantly blushed red in embarassment as she covered her more sensitive areas with her hands, before viciouslyshing out at Erich and his crass remark.


    "Bite me asshole!"


    Erich, of course, had a snarkyeback to this remark as well, which he was more than happy to give to the woman.


    "Been there, done that, or did you forget?"


    It took only a moment for Mirage to realize what Erich was referring to, and when she did, she immediately felt the sting of of Erich''s teeth which had previously pierced through her neck, and taken her life. She was quick to rub the spot where the man had bitten her, and in doing so, revealed her perky pink nipples through her translucent nightgown. Which was something that caused Erich to smirk once more.


    Upon realizing that Erich had said that purposely just so she would react this way, Mirage started getting very upset, and immediately threatened to hang up on the man if he did not inform or just why he was bothering her at this hour of the day.


    "I''m going to give you three seconds to exin why you are wasting my time before I end this call! And when that happens, you can bet that I will being for your ass!"


    Upon realizing that he may have gone too far, Erich shifted the topic to the important matters at hand.


    "Alright fine, I was told by the General that you would be in charge of setting my team up with their aliases. Apparently Splinter is still around, or at least is being maintained as a cover for covert operations, and these men need a new identity. The General also said that we will be taking our orders from you throughout the duration of this mission..."


    It took a moment for Mirage to realize that the group of WRAITHs the Director had told her that she would be coordinating with was Erich''s unit. Which caused her to curse beneath her breath, in a voice so low that Erich thought he might have been mishearing things. However, in the next moment, she recovered her stern demeanor before speaking to Erich as if he were filth.


    "Alright, fine,e to my ce, and I will set your team up with your new identities. I trust you still remember the address? Oh ande alone, I don''t want a bunch of dumb grunts tracking their filth into my penthouse!"


    Mirage did not wait for a proper response, and hung up on Erich, leaving the man in a deep state of anxiety. Thest thing he wanted was to be alone in a room with this woman. He quickly looked towards his fellow soldiers, who stared at him as if he were some kind of trash. None more so than Heavy, who quickly grabbed hold of Erich''s shoulders and shook the man rather violently, all the while screaming at him.


    "You''re cheating on Erika? I should knock you the fuck out right now! You fucking bastard!"


    While it was technically true that Erich was cheating on Erika, or so he would be if they were in a conventional monogamous rtionship, he was not doing so with Mirage, and thus he did not admit this, and instead acted in confusion.


    "What the fuck are you talking about, Heavy? And get your damn hands off of me!"


    JT smirked when he saw how clueless Erich was, before clicking his tongue, and lecturing the man as if he were an innocent and na?ve child.


    "Tsk... Tsk.. Tsk... Oh, my dear, sweet, young, and stupid Erich... She clearly likes you!"


    Erich simply looked over at JT as if he were an idiot, before voicing this thought aloud.


    "Are you perhaps retarded? She obviously hates my guts! You saw the way she spoke to me! The sheer disdain in her voice, as if I am nothing more than a piece of garbage!"


    Heavy once more made his thoughts heard, as he red at Erich with the same look Mirage was known to give him.


    "You are garbage!"


    JT scoffed in response to this, while Echo silently shook his head, which was entirely in character for the man. Ultimately, it was Ghost who broke up this little bit of high school drama by raising his voice and treating his entire team as if they were a bunch of immature brats.


    "Enough, all of you! Who gives a shit who Silber is fucking on the side? We have actual fucking work to do. Erich, you go to Hilde''s ce, and get the info we need. The rest of us will be on standby until we receive our next orders. Dismissed!"


    Erich could hardly believe that he was now having to go back to Mirage''s ce. It had been quite some time since he wasst there, and the memories he had of it were bittersweet, to say the least. However, he did as he wasmanded to do, and quickly retrieved his personal starship, where he flew off to the world of Quadi to meet up with Mirage.


    ---


    It had been years since Erich hadst stepped foot on the industrial world of Quadi. It was one of the few worlds not ravaged by the war with Terminus, and was practically the only one of its type to remain entirely intact. As of right now, most of the Empire''s industry was being manufactured on Quadi, while the rest of the Industrial Worlds continued to be rebuilt from scratch.


    The moment Erich''s ship touched down in the star port, he headed towards Mirage''s penthouse, which was located in the tallest building of the, while on the highest floor. Whatever the woman had nned for him, Erich was prepared, and had brought with him the tools he needed to protect himself.


    Erich rang the doorbell on Mirage''s door several times while waiting in silence. He did not know how much time had passed until Mirage opened the door, but he was not the slightest bit happy with having to wait. That is, until it finally opened, to reveal Mirage, who was dressed in nothing but a towel.


    The woman''s golden locks were still wet from the shower, which dripped onto her shoulders and the top of her breasts, which were not fully concealed beneath the towel. She gazed at Erich with a particrly nasty look, yet that did not mar the natural beauty which she possessed in the slightest.


    Erich was rather surprised by the woman''s scandalous appearance, and was about to make a remark, when she scowled before asking him a question with a stern tone in her voice.


    "Well, are youing in or not?"


    Erich chose to say nothing. Instead, he entered the luxurious penthouse and followed Mirage into her room, where she quickly sat down at her personal terminal. Erich looked around and saw a skin tight jumpsuitid out on the woman''s bed, along with a pair of spandex undergarments.


    There was also a set of tactical equipment, such as a belt, which contained dual pistol holsters, as well as a pair of thigh highbat boots. However, Erich''s attention was immediately drawn over to Mirage, who spoke up as she handed him the new aliases for him and his team.


    "There you go. Your aliases are all set, and they''re solid. If those fucking horned freaks want to verify your identities, they have the means to do so, and it will all check out."


    Erich grabbed hold of the first dossier and opened it up to reveal his own picture, which was a mugshot. It appeared as if he were in custody, and he was wearing the set of armor he used to wear while he was working for splinter.


    However, what caught Erich''s attention was the bold text, which disyed his information.


    Name: Wernher "Apex" Krieger


    Rank: Underboss


    Syndicate: Splinter


    It then had a bio of all the crimes he hadmitted for the organization, most of which were fairly urate, but others were either highly exaggerated or entirely made up. The thing that drew Erich''s focus the most was the rank he was given in this now defunct criminal syndicate. He looked at Mirage with a questionable gaze before asking her a single question.


    "Underboss?"


    For the first time in a long time, Mirage was not enraged when she was looking at Erich''s face. In fact, she squirmed quite a bit, as if she were feeling guilty, before muttering something beneath her breath.


    "It''s what Butcher would have wanted...."


    At first, Erich thought he misheard the woman, but when the words finally hit him, he flew into a state of rage, and backhanded her across the face, something which shocked Mirage. Though before she could protest her mistreatment, Erich screamed at her.


    "Don''t you dare say his name! You betrayed him, no, you betrayed us! We trusted you, and you stabbed us in the fucking back!"


    Contrary to what Erich was expected after he had attacked Mirage, she did not immediately reach for her pistols to retaliate. Instead, she began to tremble and cry, as she broke down in front of him, saying the words he never thought he was going to hear in his life.


    "And whose fault is that? You were warned by Emrys himself! You were even given a chance to earn forgiveness! And yet you agreed to do something so incredibly fucking stupid! Rebel against the Empire? Really? Did you seriously think that would work? You were going to get yourself executed! I had to intervene! And yet you repaid my mercy by killing me! You ripped out my throat with your teeth, like a wild fucking animal! Who does that?"


    Erich nearly lost his footing as he staggered backwards and fell against the wall. What was Mirage trying to say, that she betrayed him for his own sake? This just simply didn''t make sense, no matter how much he thought about it.


    What he needed was a few minutes to think this new information through, but unfortunately, he did not get that. Mirage immediately mistook Erich''s leaning against the wall as an invitation and quickly grabbed hold of the back of his neck while she kissed the man with a level of passion he had never experienced before. What came next was the hate fucking of a lifetime....